Huge Shark-Toothed Dinosaur Discovery Shows Predator More Terrifying Than T-Rex
Comparison of the U. uzbekistanensis (above) with the tyrannosaur Timurlengia (below). Image by Julius Csotonyi and featured with permission
As if sharks and predatory dinosaurs weren’t already quite intimidating creatures on their own, a discovery in Uzbekistan has revealed that a hybrid of both had walked the Earth about 90 million years ago.
And to add to that, the dinosaur, termed the Ulughbegsaurus uzbekistanensis, was discovered to be around 26 feet long and would’ve weighed approximately 2,200 pounds.
This makes it much larger than its cousin, the T-rex of the tyrannosaur species, which has always considered to be the apex predator of the ecosystem.
It’s not larger by just a bit though—researchers have estimated the specimen to have been twice a tyrannosaur’s length, and more than five times its weight.
Image by Julius Csotonyi and featured with permission
Although first found in the 1980s, the section of jawbone—which has been the basis of all the research done into this creature so far—was rediscovered in a museum collection more recently in 2019.
Studying the jawbone led to the conclusion that this hefty dinosaur sported a set of pearly whites most akin to sharks. These, the team states in the paper published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, would’ve allowed it to chomp down on a fine meal of other smaller dinosaurs.
Image by Tanaka et al. and featured with permission
The shark-toothed nature of the dinosaur was enough to indicate its belonging to a group of creatures with similar teeth: the carcharodontosaurs. These carnivores were dethroned as apex predators as they faded from existence long before the tyrannosaurs grew to overtake their place.
With its huge build and a set of teeth like these, it’s almost guaranteed that this creature would’ve been comfortably positioned at the very top of the local food chain.
According to the team, this finding is the last time a carcharodontosaur and a tyrannosaur were found to co-exist before the former went extinct.
[via Live Science, images by Julius Csotonyi and Tanaka et al., featured with permission]
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